Clinical Characteristics and Variant Spectrum of NF1 in Chinese Patients with Neurofibromatosis Type 1: a Cross-Sectional Study

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a rare autosomal dominant multisystem disorder caused by NF1 gene variants. Although NF1 shows marked clinical and genetic heterogeneity, large Chinese cohorts integrating clinical features, NF1 variant spectrum, and external variant contextualization remain limited. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 847 clinically confirmed Chinese patients with NF1 to characterize demographic features, clinical manifestations, DNB-defined severity, and NF1 variant spectrum. Whole-exome sequencing was performed in 211 patients. Transcript-level variant distribution was assessed using a 500-bp sliding-window approach and further contextualized using ClinVar-derived NF1 variant data. Among 847 patients, the median age was 23 years, 27.5